Serendipity
by refused
Summary: Having left everything behind, a chance encounter will rock Naruto's world. And along for the ride are the people that he used to consider precious. AU-Divergance. NaruSaku.
1. Want to be Bad

Just for clarity; This fic was started a long, long, time ago. I never finished it, it was only this chapter that I now decided to revise. It's slightly AU, and obviously there's been a long time skip where much has happened. But for the sake of the story, everything (or, most things rather) after the Sasuke-rescue mission with the Sound-four didn't happen - or at least happened differently. The main characters are now at around the age of 20. Just wanted to point that out.

And - of course - I'll also clarify that I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

**Tegan & Sara - Want to be Bad.**

_Don't get in  
Over your head  
I just _want to be bad_  
Oh oh alright_

_You're so tragedy  
And you were hard on me  
You might be dead  
But it's hard to know  
The night turns in  
But you all go_

_Don't get in  
Over your head  
I just _want to be bad_  
Oh oh alright _

**Serendipity**  
Chapter 1: _Want to be Bad_.

Ser-en-dip-i-ty  
1. An aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.  
2. Good fortune; luck; a very good coincidence.

The full-moon shone brightly from its mounted place in the darker reigns, its shining gaze being the sole witness of the forests below. An eerie silence hung upon the lands, the only exception being that of the wind constantly brushing by, causing rustles among the many branches in the trees and the grass on the ground.

A cloaked figure swiftly made its way through the trees, hopping from branch to branch, deftly and silently. As he had a habit of moving in the shadows there was no certain evidence of his presence except a faint outline hidden in the night, detailed by wild and unkept silky blonde hair, which somehow seemed to oppose or even defy the dark aura that embraced him.

He felt sick of running, however. He had been doing it, for what, five years now? Seven? More? _Yeah, something like that._

Always running, from the ghosts that haunted his mind and the masked shinobis constantly on his tail, confronting him, chasing him, one step behind him at any and all time. He didn't know whether to feel honoured that they actually still bothered with him, or annoyed by their inferior skill. Playthings were what they were. _Nothing more, nothing less, _he convinced himself.

Ah, at least it made him feel wanted -- maybe even praised in some sadistic sense -- although in the opposite way he had always dreamt of as he grew up. _It's funny how life works that way_, he pondered bitterly. At one point he had craved attention like nothing else, but now...?

When he had finally gained the power that he so desperately sought, it had changed everything. Nothing had ever ended up like he'd expected.

No, life sure as hell had a way of screwing him over every now and then. A smirk appeared to his features. Maybe it was the tension, this moment, or just the bitter irony of it all.

Just as fast as it had appeared, however, he persistently shook it off, shaking his head. No, he needed to move on now, stay focused.

But he had to admit that much; it was funny -- amusing, really. One as strong as him not having the will-power to turn around and face all the things haunting him. But with great power came responsibility -- not necessarily great respect. He knew that now.

_But now ---. And her ---._

He didn't care anymore, though. Or at least he told himself so. Once he had been deeply and desperately infatuated with her. Even in love? _Yeah... Most definitely._

Right now? He didn't know -- couldn't bring himself to even care.

Time had changed a lot of things. Healed a lot of wounds, just as it in turn had afflicted many.

It had been a mere coincidence that she had found him in the first place. He had made the incredibly stupid mistake of staying at an inn for the night, thinking some well-cooked food and social company would be a nice contrast to his usually Spartan lifestyle. Of course, that nagging voice in the back of his head had told him not to. Which is probably why he had entered the inn in the first place. He hated that annoying, nagging, uncontrollable voice.

It laughed back at him now.

As he had entered the inn, there she stood. He had literally stumbled across her, surreal as it sounded. She wore a mask and ANBU clothing, but even now -- after all this time -- there had been no denying... They must've stood there, looking at each other for seconds... a very, _very_, long time in their business.

Before realization, and thus instinct, took over. He was out the door faster than the blink of an eye... and her, of course, tumbling after him.

Fortunately that meant she hadn't been able to alert any and all colleagues. They always travelled in group, the little pests. He would know. He had, after all, dealt with quite a few during the years... Of course, for some forsaken reason, he could never bring himself to kill any of them, the mere thought had seemed almost deranged, even for his vengeful mind.

_No, mere playthings __are what they are_. Punching bags, if you will. A source of sadistic entertainment. A way for him to deal with stress.

He felt a pang of guilt race throughout his mind as he hopped, scurrying from branch to branch, hurrying to get away, to loose his followers in the safety of dark. But having no idea as to why, he quickly shrugged it of. Instead he focused on the task at hand, running.

The thought as to why he was running struck him for a moment. And just for a second, he allowed himself to explore it. It made him hesitate, if only for a moment. Dozens of answers echoing throughout his mind, but he couldn't really bring himself to listen.

_It would complicate things. __I have other worries -- besides, it's not the way it's supposed to go down, goddamnit!_

_She'll try to _kill_ you!_

_What am I__ expecting? A hug? Open arms? The goodbye I never had? And that's that? Silly boy. Still nothing short of an idiot._

He smiled bitterly. Years of memories he hoped he'd forgotten entering his mind.

He had never had a reputation of being smart -- a solid thinker, if you will -- so why start bothering now? And so what, she could _try_ to kill him. The line for his scalp was a long one, and he couldn't bring himself to think that she'd be up in front of it, the one to be able to put _him_ out of _his_ misery.

_What's wrong with a little bit of complication now and then, anyway?_ It _had_ worked for him before.

And with that he stopped and turned around, resolve in his mind. He would run no longer -- not from this.

He tensed a bit as he felt the aura of his perpetrator approach, slowly. She wasn't panting, even after that rush. He smiled fondly; she had grown. He could feel it. _Maybe this hadn't been such a bad idea after all...? _A familiar feeling crept up on him, one of anticipation.

He steadied himself, getting a _bit_ too eager at the prospect of some fun and games. Just then she appeared in his line of sight, stopping a bit ahead of him.

Confronted like this, like they hadn't been for so long... neither knowing what to say nor how to act. He wasn't even sure what her agenda really was. It wasn't exactly ANBU protocol to attack head first. _Does that mean she has some kind of trick up her sleeves...?_

He couldn't stand the silence anymore than she could.

"It's been a long time, neh? Sakura-_chan_...?" Careful to emphasize the endearing suffix. Letting it roll of his tongue, scanning for any and all expressions on her body. At least it'd tell him something about her agenda. Besides, he loved mind games, especially in the midst of combat. Satisfying not only a now-a-days sadistic and insatiable ancient lust for cruel, but also giving him the upper hand in combat should it break out - an emotional foe was always that much easier -- not to mention funnier -- to fight.

And sure enough, every muscle in her body tensed for a split second. In turn, a mischievous grin tugged at the end of his lips.

"Idiot..." The pink-haired girl... no, _woman_, he decided, hissed under her breath. She'd grown so much since he'd last seen her, since ---.

Tall slender legs connected to a firm body. Muscular yet still very feminine. And those pink strands of hair, oh how he could've lost himself in the mere sight of those, back in the days. But that was not the only thing. She hadn't grown, so much as she had matured...

Physique and in mind, but also immensely in strength. Although, still not enough to rival him, he concluded, satisfied. Without a doubt one of the most powerful foes from Konoha he'd fought in a long time, but still not enough.

"Idiot... Look at you..." she began, again, and he casually observed how a range of emotions filled her. Disbelief, confusion, anger, rage.

She couldn't quite fathom how this man, this... scoundrel, thief -- _enemy_ -- in front of her, could be the cheery little boy whom she remembered so well. The boy deeply infatuated with her, cherishing the very earth she moved upon, praising her every second of the day...

He had been a nuisance, a mere annoyance, back then. Oh, how she longed to have that boy by her side, again.

The blonde in front of her was vastly different from the one in her memories, however. The old one was rough, brash and hot-headed while this one seemed almost calculating, laid-back and… mature?

_If anything, he has grown up,_ she realized with a bit of remorse as she took in his new appearance. Taller, bigger and, _heck - even handsome._ He had a piercing gaze from his blue eyes which coupled with his posture and his clothing made him look like quite the bad boy - the complete opposite of what he had always been.

Gone was the orange jumpsuit. Instead it was replaced by a long buttoned-up black coat that hugged his features. On the sides of which, starting at the bottom and working themselves up, there were distinct patterns that spiralled their way up towards his waist, coloured in a dark wine-red. Had she bothered counting them, she would've noticed that there were nine, all in all. The coat was slit just to below his waste at the front and back for easier movement, revealing black pants underneath. At the top it had a long collar that reached up to his chin, the two top-most buttons unbuttoned.

"What the hell's happened to you? Huh?" But she was greeted by nothing but silence, which in turn only fed her rage. "Well...? Tell me! Why the hell did you abandon us!? Why did you abandon-" me, she was going to add, but luckily got interrupted just in time.

"Listen, pinky." He cut her off, and as he mentioned the 'nickname', he was next-to-certain that she would've spat in his face if it wasn't for that mask of hers. "I do not wish to fight you ---"

"Bullshit!" She spat out, effectively cutting of his sentence.

He laughed, closer to a chuckle. "Okay, fair enough... whatever. Just know that, if you leave me no choice, I'll have to kill you. I'm not the stupid, innocent boy you once knew."

"You're telling me!?" She yelled out. "Looks like I'm just gonna have to bash some sense into that brainless piece-of-shit head of yours!" And with that, she lunged forward. Years of training under the legendary Tsunade imprinted in her mind and in her very fist.

And she was fast, too. Much faster than he would've given her credit for.

But unfortunately, not quite fast enough.

He effectively dodged every earth-shattering blow, blocked every punch and countered every kick; however making cautiously sure that he wasn't struck by her fist, as he knew from experience that its force could have quite the consequences, even for him.

For moments upon moments they were intertwined in combat, their gazes meeting. Neither one of them faltering, giving up, or moving back.

But he never once fought back. _Not yet._

Her movements were graceful, swift & deadly. Punches and kicks trained to perfection, an ancient tai-jutsu style mastered years ago that didn't leave much opening.

His style resembled more of street brawling than anything a ninja of his caliber would use. Rugged and ungraceful but almost impossible to predict and with accuracy, speed and raw power out of this world.

She could feel that she got closer and closer to an opening, but it unnerved her somewhat that he hadn't even once thrown an attack back at her yet. Was he just trying to play with her? _No matter, I'll show him_, she thought, scowling behind the safety of her mask and noticed that a grin had yet again appeared upon his features.

And it kept getting wider. She knew he was definitely up to something.

Dodging a fist that would've surely cracked his ribs, he carefully blocked her other hand as it flew towards his throat. Not wasting any time, he bent his knees and got down closer to the ground, switching his weight to his left leg and attempting a roundhouse kick that he knew she would dodge. What she didn't know, however, was that his hands would connect with her stomach as she was still in the air, sending her back to where she came from.

He quite impressively noted that she still had a lot of strength left after their little exertion. After chasing after him in high speed for a good two hours, as well as keeping up a very fast tai-jutsu pace for several minutes, he had honestly thought she'd at least show some signs of faltering; such as heavy breathing, but there was nothing.

"You've grown, Sakura." He stated coolly, not even bothering with the suffix.

"Pfft." she spat back out. Had he honestly thought she would still be _that_ helpless little girl she had been years ago? No, if anything all the events from years ago, both her teammates abandoning her, had been a wake-up call.

"But I'm still very much disappointed. Where's the malice in your attacks, the intent to kill? You're not even trying, Sakura-_chaaan_!"

She wanted to claw his eyes out, wipe that smudge know-it-all smile off of his face. She wanted to scream and shout, remind him how he was the dead-last and not her. She couldn't and thus her only response was a frown behind her mask. But he was right and they both knew it.

No, instead of acting like the helpless little child she had used to be, she opted for acting like the strong kunochi that she had matured into and did the one thing she was trained to do - attack.

And instead of using tai-jutsu alone, as that was obviously not enough here, she threw in some of the many jutsus she had mastered over the years.

The following minutes were spent between the two exchanging blows as well as jutsus. He was still very much on the defense, canceling out or even blocking her jutsus with his own.

An immensely large water jutsu stopped her fire one from setting him in flames. She smirked as she watched him soaked in water and called out a mighty lightning jutsu. It was a direct hit, but she noted with a scowl that the torched remains of him turned into earth and then, after mixing with the water, to mud.

"That's the spirit! Definitely an improvement." He called out from behind her, smirking as he appeared out of the trunk of a tree, but was again welcomed by nothing but silence. "Have you outgrown the hag yet?" He continued persistently. He was unwillingly curious, although would never admit that to anyone. Besides, he wouldn't stop now as he was clearly getting to her, the silence spoke volumes.

She knew very well that it was Tsunade he had referred to, but chose not to satisfy him by answering the question. Sakura most probably had, though. Maybe she wasn't quite as strong right now as Tsunade had been in her prime, but taking into account that the fifth Hokage had certainly aged quite a bit since those days, Sakura was now definitely the stronger out of the two. Especially considering that at Sakuras age, she could only grow stronger while Tsunade would only grow weaker.

He merely cocked an eyebrow at her silence, seemingly amused. "Right answer," he stated, and again let that unnerving grin tug at his lips. "I'll just find out on my own!"

He flicked a few projectiles - shurikens - her way and instantly worked on some hand seals. The projectiles soon divided into dozens, and from there on to hundreds.

And from there to several thousands.

Her eyes wide behind her mask, she couldn't even begin to fathom the amount of chakra, the amount of control---.

_No! There's no time! He, he's actually trying to ---._

Nowhere to dodge fast enough as her whole field of view was covered in pointy objects, she had no choice but to pick up a needle and start fighting them of, one by one, as many as she could, hoping and praying none would hit a vital spot...

_But there's too many...!_

She braced herself after throwing a handful of her own projectiles to meet his, heart pumping faster in the heat of battle - and at the realization that this might really be her last. As she got ready to ricochet the first shuriken with her needle, it just flew straight past her -- no, straight _through_ her!

_Nothing but mere simple bunshin's!?_

Eyes still wide, and relief pumping through her again. That's when she felt something connect with her upper leg -- with a sickening thud ripping through skin, and soon flesh -- just above her protecting steel knee-pad. And then once again, this one in her left arm. A third, square in her shoulder, just inches away from nerves and muscle tissue, vital for the limbs mobility. Then a fourth one, this one a kunai -- not a shuriken -- scratching the Leaf-symbol on her mask, before flying off into the woods.

She fell to her knees. _I'm a trained shinobi damnit_, she cursed herself for being so weak. Gritting her teeth, she got up to her feet again and pulled the shurikens out of her limbs.

_Well, no more. Not today, not tomorrow, not..._

"Looking pretty confident for someone licking her own wounds."

_Oh, I'll make him shut the fuck up. Wipe that goddamn grin off of his face, alright._

"Sa-ku-ra." He played with the word. "I expected more out of this, but it's getting old." He dully complained.

"Oh shut up, Naruto. Just shut up! I'm bringing you back to Konoha. And rest assured, whether I have to kill you or drag your broken, unconscious body, you'll go there."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"It's my 'promise of a lifetime'." She mocked him, smugly satisfied that he was at a loss of words to retort with.

And he didn't say anything as she darted off towards him, flicking the three shurikens that were still in her hands his way but not bothering to clone them. They were, after all, mere distractions until she could get of the other techniques she was working on. Instead he only raised an eyebrow in mild interest as he noticed the objects didn't duplicate and that she was far from finished with her handseals. He caught the shurikens on his fingers but didn't throw them yet.

His vision went slightly blurry for just a moment. _That's odd,_ he thought but his line of thought was interrupted when two perfect clones of Sakura appeared to her left.

"Kage bunshin no Jutsu!" she exclaimed.

_Risky move, _he analyzed quickly. _She's going to put her everything into this next attack. Her remaining chakra supply couldn't have been that big, and cutting it in third like that…_

He wasted no time and threw the three shurikens back at the original Sakura as all three Sakuras bound towards him. They got intercepted mid-air however by a few senbons courtesy of one of the clones and with a clang the metal objects scattered, bounding downwards to the forests below.

The original Sakura engaged the blonde in taijutsu while her clones supported with jutsus when they could. Her confidence was heightened a few notches now and she was an even more formidable opponent than earlier. He silently acknowledged that as a fact as he brought his own speed up a pace, but even so his counter-attacks met with nothing but air.

_She's reading my every movement!?_

Sakura ducked under yet another lightning-fast punch and as she did so his whole field of view revealed a shining fire rapidly descending towards him. _Shit, that clones jutsus are gravely annoying,_ he said as he threw himself to the side, barely avoiding the katon-styled jutsu that managed to singe the clothing on his arm slightly.

As the smoke cleared little by little it revealed a rain of shuriken heading towards the jutsu-spewing clone. It widened its eyes in surprise but didn't have time to do much more than that as the objects connected, making it disappear in a cloud of smoke.

_One down, two to go. Now where's the second clone?_ Naruto thought as he scanned the area. He had to cut his search short however as, what he presumed was, the original came bounding straight towards him.

He flicked a shuriken her way, hoping to slow her down but was surprised when it soared straight past her. Sakura didn't even need to dodge it.

_What the… an illusion!? That expla--- oh shit!_

Pain. Physical pain like he hadn't felt in years as her fist connected to his solar plexus a moment before it should be able to; she hadn't even reached him yet! Channeling what, he imagined, was her full strength in that one blow. It was enough to have him lift from ground and bound towards a tree behind him. The tree in fact did little to stop him as it split in half and left him tumbling into one directly behind it, where he stopped with a sickening crunch against the trunk, landing on a branch a few meters below.

He slowly got up on one, then two, shaky legs. Still reeling from the punch, not to mention the flight that it had caused, he shook his head. He reached out a hand to lean against the tree while regaining his strength.

As he heard her land gently on the other side of the branch, 100 or so feet away, he did something she never could've anticipated. Uzumaki Naruto started clapping slowly, still sluggish in his every movement. "Woah. I'd claim that that would leave a mark but, somehow it never does." he offered, a bittersweet smile on his features. She didn't know if he was mocking her or if he was genuinely applauding her.

_A__nd how can he still be standing after that?_ she thought frantically. Between keeping the tai-jutsu up and creating two clones, Sakura was panting heavily herself. _How strong is he…?_

The blonde stopped clapping and started to dust of his clothes instead, before he leaned against the trunk of the tree with his left hand again.

"At any rate," he continued, "sweet tactic, Sakura-chan." And for once, she noted that he didn't use the affectionate suffix in a mocking manner. "Using one clone for nin-jutsu and the other for gen-jutsu to throw me off track. Besides, they hid the gen-jutsu as well. I assume the first one that engaged me was a clone?" She frowned at this, not expecting him to figure it out - or at least not this fast.

The gen-jutsu she had cast was a rather simple on in theory. The first stages of it was C-Ranked and utterly easy to notice and dispel. It only distorted the victims perception of reality slightly, making everything appear a few feet left of where it actually was. But even if its basic stages were weak, fully mastered it was frightening as she could subtly change the position of the illusion. She had also learned to choreograph it with her tai-jutsu style, making misses appear like dodges.

"You've obviously grown, but you're still the same smart booksmart girl as ever, eh? No matter, I'll acknowledge your growth and won't hold back from now on."

"Pfft." Sakura spat out again. "I'll end this now! You try to keep up!"

All of a sudden vines of what he recognized to be poison ivy shot out from the tree and grabbed a hold of his left hand. He quickly plucked out a kunai and attempted to free his one arm with the other but before he could react more vines shot out from the branch below, enveloping his entire body.

_Shit. This is __gen-jutsu as well, the clone must still be near-by. But I can't disrupt my chakra flow without my hands free. I'll have to use _it

His eyes suddenly shot up, now a colour of red instead of the usual innocent blue as he felt the demonic chakra within him stir. His row of teeth suddenly developing four fangs and he bit down on his cheek hard enough to draw blood in an attempt to dispel the gen-jutsu surrounding him.

Sakura brows furrowed as she saw the events develop in front of her. Somehow the effects of her clones gen-jutsu was receding and as the clone pushed more and more chakra into the technique to sustain it, in the end it reached its limit and disappeared with a 'pop'. Knowing what had to be done, Sakura acted accordingly, not wasting the opportunity at hand.

She dashed towards him, intent on ending this right here and now, no matter what. She did a few handseals mid-leap and in her hands a faint blue glow was formed. Naruto saw this out of the corner of his eye and recognized the technique as chakra scalpels. He brought up his kunai in order to raise his guard and fend her of but his eyes widened as he saw what she was about to do.

_She's not trying to dodge__…!_ he pondered briefly if he was still caught up in an illusion but threw that thought aside as he saw the calm, determined eyes behind her mask. _Shit!_

Frozen in realization, before he could act Sakura wrapped her left arm around his right one and pushed herself further into his guard. With a gasp the kunai penetrated her, just a small distance short of where the white kevlar armour of her ANBU uniform lay. Using the momentum of his surprise – red eyes still wide in horror – she attacked.

It took every ounce of his willpower to move a precious inch to the left as her glowing hand came tumbling towards his torso, allowing the otherwise fatal attack to 'only' nick a major artery close to the heart.

"That was unbelievably stupid!" Naruto growled. His eyes flicked an even darker, bloodier, red for a moment before he shook his head and then blinked, revealing his eyes true blue colour again.

He got down to his knees, his left arm still intervened with her right and with a push he placed her in his lap after he sat down, back against the trunk.

"Stupid, stupid girl..." he muttered again as he removed her mask, finally revealing her face. Normally, the old Naruto would've beamed at her right now, thinking how she was more beautiful than ever, but this situation was anything but normal.

"I got... you." she stated between ragged breaths, noticing the trail of blood running out of his mouth. She didn't know whether to feel happy or sad over the fact, though.

"You got me good. Now shut up and save your strength, Sakura. You'll need it after I kick your cute little ass for going off doing something incredibly stupid like that."

"I'm... dying, aren't I?"

"No." came his stern reply.

"But---"

"I told you to shut up, didn't I? It's not as bad as it looks. I managed to avoid any organs when I caught on to what you were about to do," He glanced down towards the kunai-inflicted injury. "You've lost a lot of blood but you'll live."

She only nodded numbly before looking up at him again. "What about… you, Naruto? I got you, didn't I?"

Naruto sighed. "I'm not like... most people. It hurt like shit, though." He chuckled absentmindedly. "Still does."

He removed his black coat, revealing a long-armed fishnet shirt covered by a brightly-blue coloured tee and black-coloured khaki-styled battle-pants underneath it. His left arm from his shoulder under the tee and down to his wrist, as well as parts of his right leg was covered in bandages.

He removed a couple of lengths of bandages from the arm before focusing his attention on the girl in his arms again.

_Now for the tricky bit_ he thought as he carefully removed bits of the clothing around the wound. Naruto pondered whether he should warn her of the pain that would soon ensue but quickly decided against it. _She pretty much deserves it after that stunt,_ and with that he pulled the offending kunai out of the wound it had dug.

The painful yelp that escaped her did little to satisfy him, however. He quickly fitted the bandage around her torso before she lost more blood than necessary. Satisfied he gazed away from the wound and towards her face again before he tucked her in under his coat.

At a loss for anything else to say, she offered a meek "I'm sorry..." before drifting of to unconsciousness, probably due to blood loss and weak state chakra exhaustion.

"Shh, it's alright." He responded, but he knew it'd fell on deaf ears.

Not really knowing what to do, he just held her for a few minutes, absentmindedly brushing away strays of hairs that had gotten stuck to her face. Whether due to blood, sweat or the many water-based jutsus thrown around earlier he didn't know.

He suddenly felt auras approaching, possibly around jounin level, and expanding his senses he cursed slightly as they were closer than he had expected. So caught up in recent events had he been that he hadn't noticed until just now. They were, almost without a doubt, the remainder of her team.

_That's just perfect!_ he groaned, cursing his luck. He briefly considered fighting them, he still had a bit of strength and perhaps about thirty-five percent chakra left but for some reason decided against it.

Soon enough, four shadows landed on various places surrounding the two of them.

"Taichou!" a female voice cried out.

"What did you do to her?" another one, this one male asked. His voice was exceptionally calm for this situation, but it still came out as almost a growl. The blonde felt as if though he should've recognized the person.

He merely sighed and shook his head before he laughed bitterly. "Actually, she did it all to herself."

"You are..." the ANBU stopped mid-sentence, as if making sure before he revealed his suspicions.

"My reputation precedes me, eh?" The blonde answered playfully, but he had still to even look up and face any of them. His gaze was instead fixed on the woman in his lap.

"Uzumaki Naruto." That same voice asked again. At this revelation, murmurs and gasps escaped the remaining ANBU.

"It doesn't matter! Stand down and give yourself up! Let Sakura-taichou go!" the first one, the female, finally commanded. Naruto detected a hint of anxiety in her voice as he continued. "Or we'll be forced to take action!"

"Now, now, easy ANBU-chan." the missing-nin mocked. "Any other day, I'd love to play with you all but right now, I better get going. As for your taichou, dear pinky over here, well… you'll have her back in one piece sooner or later."

And with that, the tree swallowed Naruto along with Sakura. Just like that, they were gone, leaving four confused ANBU members behind without a leader.

**Silly Author's Musings**

Hoookay. There. It only took me three (four?) years to finish giving this chapter the once-over. Hell yeah!

Thanks to FenrisLupus for quite open-mindedly pointing out to me how _not_ to suck. For your valiant efforts, your death shall be a quick one once I decide to take over the world.

Anyway, if this chapter is posted, chapter two and (quite possibly) three should be on their way as well. Look forward to them, or else!


	2. Certainly Uncertain

_**If, for some remarkable reason, you've read chapter one before - please do reread it. I've re-written it and it's changed quite a lot.**_

**  
****Modest Mouse - Missed the Boat.**  
_  
Looking towards the future  
We were begging for the past  
Well we knew we had the good things  
But those never seemed to last  
Oh please just last_

_Well nothing ever went  
Quite exactly as we planned  
Our ideas held no water  
But we used them like a damn_

_Oh, and we carried it all so well  
As if we got a new position  
Oh, and I laugh all the way to hell  
Saying yes, this is a fine promotion  
Oh, and I laugh all the way to hell_

_Of course everyone goes crazy  
Over such and such and such  
We made ourselves a pillar  
We just used it as a crutch_

_  
We were _certainly uncertain_  
At least I'm pretty sure I am  
Well we didn't need the water  
But we just built that go god damn_

_Was it ever worth it?  
Was there all that much to gain?  
Well we knew we missed the boat  
And we'd already missed the plane_

**Serendipity**  
Chapter 2: _Certainly Uncertain_.

Sakura awoke with a painful start. She noted somewhere in the back of her head, which was already throbbing with pain and nausea, that she was very unaware of her surroundings; she had definitely never been here before. Yet, somehow, as she took in the room around her, she felt at ease. An unfamiliar feeling of being at home, safe, somehow. Something she had never felt outside of the walls of her village. Ironically enough, that very same feeling kept her on her edge unlike anything else. That feeling was supposed to be alien to her as a ninja, at least right here and now.

Sighing, she first checked on her wounds before doing anything else. With an eye-brow mildly raised in question, she noticed that the they were all seemingly gone. Her uniform was still ripped around where it had been, but that was it. No further evidence of the massive wound existed.

Shaking her head in confusion or just plain disbelief, she recalled the events of what she presumed were yesterday. It felt like a surrealistic dream. She didn't quite understand her own reasoning for plunging at him like she had. Did she have a death wish? Had all the angst and feelings of betrayal just gotten too much and she had finally snapped?

She didn't have any answer right now, and decided to at least wait until her head stopped throbbing until she asked again.

Still a bit too groggy to stand up, she instead took a good look around the room, taking in her surroundings. It was what looked like a normal cabin. Nothing fancy at all - no decorations or anything like such. Her educated guess was that this was the only room. The fact that there was only one door - that supposedly led out into the world - somehow supported her idea.

She saw that there was a simple kitchen across the room. Glancing over there she noticed that something had recently been cooked on the stove, if the steamy pot was any indication.

To her side stood a chair pulled close and she noted that there was a small tray on top of it, holding what seemed like green tea, some bread and a note. Folded under the note were clothes of some sort, but right now she focused her attention on the other items.

She extended her shaking and still very tired arm and snatched the note, bringing it to her eyes. Her brows furrowed on her forehead as she read the short message, and then she had the urge to either roll her eyes or mangle a certain blonde-haired shinobi that was bound to be somewhere close.

_Sakura,_

_Please accept my apologies and eat this breakfast I prepared for you._

She looked at the letter and then to the food on the tray and then back to the letter once again. Then she promptly shook her head. Did he think that she was _that_ stupid? There could be all sorts of poisons - especially as seasoned green tea was the easiest type to hide numerous poisons in.

As if on cue, her stomach rumbled a bit at the thought of food and she found herself in quite a predicament. Sighing to herself she tossed the note aside on the tray but in doing so, she found another message on the back.

_PS.__It's not poisoned. If I wanted to poison you, I would've done so while you were out cold._

She sighed to herself again and in doing so managed to suppress a groan. Sakura could literary imagine the grin the loud-mouthed brat she knew back in the days would've sported right now. With sadness, she compared that boy to the man that had handed her ass to her earlier. It was hard to imagine that they were both one and the same.

Setting her doubts aside, she took a sip of the tea - surprised that Naruto out of all people could cook something so delicious. She took another sip immediately afterwards and then continued to greedily eat all the bread given to her.

A minute later she had finished her breakfast and found her strength renewed. It had had almost the same affect as a soldier-pill she noted, but not quite to the same extent. She wasn't sure if it was the bread or the tea, but somehow she felt a lot of her strength returning again.

Pulling herself up from the bed, she gravely noticed that all of her belongings save from clothing had been taken from her, even her ANBU mask. Just like a true captor would to his hostage. The kevlar armour lay on the floor next to the chair, its thick white cloth coloured in stains of her blood. She gritted her teeth and then re-checked all her hidden weapon-supplies and found with delight that he had forgot to remove her three spare kunais, hidden just next to her body under her shirt.

Sakura smirked a bit, thinking that the young enigma maybe had not entirely changed. Eight years ago, Uzumaki Naruto would've been way too embarrassed to feel a female person - even ninja - up for weapons hidden in quite _intimate_ places.

She removed the tray and took a look at the material underneath it. As she had predicted, they were clothes - or more accurately, a brightly-coloured blue tee and black combat pants.

Sighing, she contemplated whether to wear the clothes or not. This situation was already beyond anything closely resembled normal, and what would her captor think if she did indeed clothe herself in his clothes? The childish part of her mind rejected the idea, screaming obscenities about how she couldn't let him have that mental victory over her. Especially not after the night before.

Seeing however as her uniform was torn to pieces in more places than one, revealing a tad bit too much for comfort, she took the shirt and slid it over her head, leaving the pants on the chair. Instead she kept her full ANBU uniform save for kevlar and armour under the blue shirt.

Sakura moved towards the door and opened it slowly, intent on finding out exactly where she was. To her great surprise it wasn't locked - but maybe thinking a simple door could hold her in was a foolish thought to begin with.

As the door creaked open, she noted a figure sitting on the steps leading out into the clearing that surrounded them. Tight black coat wrapped around broad shoulders and muscular body coupled with that silkily blonde hair. He was taller, his hair longer and wilder, his body firmer built and he held himself better these days, like one of his strength, determination and confidence would. But even from behind she could still recognize him. She was torn between making her presence known and just lounging at him with her kunai right there and then.

Instead of waiting for her, he made the first gesture.

"Good morning, Sakura. Slept well?" She didn't need to see his face to know that he had that unsettling grin from last night on his features.

"What do you want from me?" Straight from the pleasantries to the point._Good girl_, she complimented herself.

"Huh? Not even a 'Hello' or 'Good morning' for your old comrade? Even a simple 'Thanks' would be nice, y'know."

She was starting to get annoyed now. He was enjoying this way too much. And he still wasn't even taking her seriously - he hadn't even turned to face her yet! Didn't she even pose a threat to him from behind?

"Wow, you sure are full of yourself, bastard. Why would I even _want_ to thank you?"

"If not for the breakfast or taking care of your injuries..."

No response. So he continued on.

"Or perhaps the fact that I _did__not_ kill you in your sleep. Or when we fought, for that matter." He finished, satisfied.

If the glare was any indication, she was fuming now. Not that he still had turned around to notice. "You kidnapped me!"

He shrugged carelessly. "So you would've rather I killed you?"

She knew she was out of her position, but she couldn't help herself. Somehow, this boy, _man_, still got to her with little to no effort. "I'd like to see you try!" She huffed in annoyance.

There was no answer this time, he didn't need to. They both knew that if they faced of straight-up right now, Sakura still injured and not close to her full capacity, she wouldn't stand a chance. So she was forced to re-think her options and come up with some other plan.

Sakura slowly but surely sat down next to him on the steps, still careful of his every move. His face had hardened some, seemingly loosing the baby fat. It made him look more mature, but that could've been the faraway look in his gaze, she thought. He looked painfully a lot like their old Hokage, the Yondaime. There was no denying that fact.

The Yondaime had been a hero of unrivalled strength and even though she wasn't even born when he passed away, she had seen many pictures of him. She absentmindedly wondered why she hadn't made that connection before, because the resemblance was uncanny. Well, except for the whiskers that adorned his features, which seemed to have paled somewhat in colour...

...And of course the absence of a forehead protector on the top of his head, letting his already spiky hair all over the place. She sighed loudly. Seeing him without Konoha's symbol saddened her more than anything else.

She saw that he was holding her ANBU mask in his hand, but he wasn't looking at it directly - instead he was gazing down on the ground a few meters in front of him. Less careless now, when she opened her mouth again, she decided to tread slowly. "You never answered my question."

After not getting an answer, she decided to elaborate. "What do you want from me?" she asked firmly.

He raised his gaze from the ground and up towards the sky, indicating that he was thinking.

"Honestly?"

She didn't quite know how to respond to that since she didn't know what it meant. Somehow she felt that it held a greater meaning; whatever he was about to answer - she wouldn't quite want to know. Was he going to tell her he was going to kill her or something like that? Either way, Sakura decided that she needed to find out. Noticing the small outlines of a smile gracing his face, she nodded.

"It was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. I don't know why." He stated bluntly, still looking upwards to the heavens.

She didn't know quite what to read of it, and neither did he. He hated how she _messed_ him up without even trying. Just her mere presence disturbed him on so many levels. It had taken him years to build up his self esteem after he had left; and he now applauded the parts of him that were careful, cunning and full of caution - everything his childhood self did not even closely resemble... He _needed_ to be that person in order to survive.

And while he was still known to be impulsive now and then, he would never be described as careless or without caution. There was always a way out of what he got himself into. _Always_.

Except, maybe now.

It had taken her all of one second to destroy all of what his carefully planned persona had entitled him to and revert him back to his old ways; impulsive and careless. And she hadn't even needed to open her mouth to do so! Just one look from her, and he was a messed up, emotional shell of what he had been these past years.

_Will I never get over you, Sakura?_

He laughed slightly and ever so bitterly at the irony of it all, and almost scowled himself for doing so. Laughing was part of an emotion, and he _never_ let emotions get the best of him. He looked her up in the corner of his eyes. His field of vision only allowing him brief details as his head was still stubbornly held high.

Her hair had gotten shorter, he noted. She held it simpler now compared to years ago. Maybe that was because she was supposed to hide behind the mask he still held in his hand - hadn't simply had time to fix her hair up yet. Or maybe she had gotten over her looks and instead had started to focus more on training these last years. Maybe she had finally realized that a battlefield didn't care about how you looked, while it was painfully aware of skill and experience.

He frowned to himself, hoping he was right in his assumptions. Besides, she would always look deadly to him. _Now there was a pun worthy of the old, foolish Naruto._

Shaking his head in a vain attempt to make his trail of thoughts disappear. He handed over her mask to her, giving it a quick glance-over before he did so.

It looked fierce. He would've half-expected it to be a horse, a slug or maybe some magnificent bird of some sort. _Hell, even a unicorn would've made more sense than this, _he mused. Instead it held similarities to a canine. Large fangs, whiskers, protruding ears on top. All decorated in an orange colour upon the white mask - which somehow made it look partly gentle & innocent while the fierceness still remained.

"A fox, eh." He stated nonchalantly and smiled warily up towards the sky before turning to his captive. If he was right in his thesis, then he'd get an explanation soon...

She held him steady in her gaze and after a while their eyes finally met. She hadn't noticed a few minutes ago as he was staring straight forward instead towards her, but his eyes! They were slightly different from the ones she knew. The bright innocent blue colour still remained within them but he held a different gaze now compared to years ago. It was a sad gaze of someone that had seen too much and had the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Furthermore, there were two things that disturbed her greatly about his pupils. First off, they weren't their normal round shape, rather they were of a very slight oval shape. While not complete slits like those of a wild animal, there were still a small resemblance. Second of all, the colour. They held a hint of blood red in them, compared to normal black pupils.

For a second she considered it a gen-jutsu cast to hide his features from the many people tailing him, but quickly dismissed that idea - he would've changed more features and none of them this apparent. She shuddered involuntarily at the thought, but didn't voice any of her concerns.

Releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding in, she took a firm grip on the mask but he didn't let go just yet. Not without an explanation.

"ANBU's are supposedly the demons of Konoha; doing all the dirty work. I thought it would be fitting." she stated, with just a hint of smugness which spoke volumes.

Just one thought crossed his mind at this point. _So everyone knows, then..._ He had told Sakura himself during their first mission after his little trip with Jiraiya, but for her to wear a mask of a fox, a creature considered taboo in Konoha for many reasons, most probably meant that everyone - even his generation - knew of his 'relation' to the demon.

He didn't know whether to feel relieved or damned at the thought of his biggest secret being spilled like that. He knew just how naive he was in thinking they hadn't bothered explaining to everyone after he had picked up and left. He was an enemy now. They sure as hell did not owe him anything.

_Although_, he added as an after-thought, _they should be very happy I haven't come back and razed their village to the ground._

Shrugging subconsciously he focused his stare upon her again.

"So everyone else knows, then," it wasn't a question as much as it was a statement - so she didn't bother answering.

An awkward silence enveloped the two of them, but Sakura soon broke it. She felt like she had to know. "Why did you leave, Naruto?"

He didn't quite know how to answer. Or perhaps he didn't know how to approach the answer. Despite everything he felt towards his old home, he didn't kid himself. Sometimes he had found himself wishing that he never had made that decision, but even so he somehow managed to never regret leaving it.

It would've just been easier... less complicated, to stay sometimes, and it was in specifically hard times he had found his resolve faltering a bit.

"I could give you a million reasons, Sakura-chan." He finally stated wistfully.

For some reason his effort to ditch her question did not impress her. "I've got plenty of time, idiot."

He found himself smiling fondly at her and her resolve.

There had been a lot of reasons for his departure. Some of them obvious to everyone while others went deeper than that. His smile broke out into a slight frown. He had certainly not prepared himself for that question and found it difficult to answer it because he didn't know what reason he wanted to give her. There were too may approaches to his decision.

The continuous hatred from the villagers.

The threats from the council.

The death of his dreams and aspirations.

The fear of not being able to save his precious people.

The fear of involuntarily invoking the death of said people.

Tired of taking orders from moronic commanders, serving codes that stood without a cause.

Or perhaps the aftermath of _that_ day.

"In the end, there was nothing to keep me there. I don't blame you or the old lady. If anything, it was the work of the hidden powers that taints Konoha." She didn't know quite what he meant or where he was getting with this, but he pressed on. "I guess I did not want to sit idly by as another catastrophe unfolded just because some old fart thrived for more power than he could handle. No, you can have your _home_ for all I care." There was no missing the sarcastic tone at which he used to address the word home. "There's so much shit going on beneath it all that it'll burst any second, anyway."

The pink-haired ANBU wasn't famed as an academic genius for nothing, but even so she had trouble putting together what exactly the blonde was getting at. She made a mental note to ask her mentor about it when she came back.

_I__f I even make it back.._. Somehow their conversations and silent musings had completely made her forget - if only for a minute or two - just the situation she found herself in. She sighed to herself and then frowned. And that illusion of instilled safety still glared over her like a dark cloud. It disturbed her a great deal. That together with what Naruto had said just now. Trying to understand his - and to some extent her own - feelings on the subject. She just couldn't seem to make sense of it all.

As if sensing her change in sudden posture, he opened his mouth but rather abruptly figured that he didn't know what to say. After all, he knew that whatever she was feeling or thinking he had been the catalyst to. So instead he did the only thing he could think of, and almost slapped his own forehead after doing so.

He put his own hand over hers. Perhaps not the biggest gesture of comfort between two human beings available. But none the less the situation screamed awkwardness in any and all direction.

To his surprise she didn't flinch at the contact, but maybe that was because it confused her more than anything else. He was almost about to retract his hand upon her quizzical stare but something kept him from doing so.

After yet another awkward silence Naruto figured he had overstepped his bounds. So he sighed and made to stand up. Just as the blonde was going to mouth an apology and retract his hand he found himself being yanked down to a sitting position again. It was his turn to confusedly stare at her in surprise. That's, of course, until she did something that surprised him even more.

Without even so much as a warning he found her lips crashing down on his own.

The kiss was completely one-sided at first. It took him a moment or two to realize just what exactly was happening. And then an additional moment to contemplate exactly how to respond to this gesture before instincts took over instead and he, to his own great surprise, found himself deepening it.

He heard a moan escape her lips and a shudder against his body as she took yet another initiative and pressed her body closer to his. His left hand went up to cup her cheek before his right instinctively went up to his right side to stop the kunai rapidly descending towards him.

He gripped her arm around the wrists and held it firmly, inches away from his face. The kunai drew blood on his neck, only penetrating a few millimetres. He noted that it would've been far from fatal, although it would've stung like all hell and possibly incapacitated him for a while.

Her eyes snapped open wide like saucers. _Oh shit..._

Their lips now only mere inches from each other. Eyes were staring intently, predicting who would make the first move from here. They could feel the each others hot breathing on their faces.

"I didn't know you had it in you, Sakura-chan. Quite the seductress, ne?" he allowed himself to smirk a bit, and if he didn't know any better he could've sworn he saw her blushing faintly out of the corner of his eyes. "Tsk tsk, still not with the intent to kill."

Gripping her wrist a bit tighter, he forced her to release her hold on the metal. It struck the stair he was sitting on with a thud standing upright; the tip embedded in the wood.

Naruto was almost reeling over the power he had over this situation. Of course, he had felt the feeling of power, or command if you will, a lot during these past years... but never in the presence of those that he had ones called comrades; who knew him as the dead-last, a follower. No, they'd never considered him an alpha-male.

It was almost intoxicating, the advantage and the feeling of coming out on top like this. He wondered slightly if this was how Neji and Sasuke had always felt back in the days, but quickly stopped that line of thought. It would do no good to think of the past.

Instead he took full advantage of the situation and pressed his lips gently on hers. If to tease her or even punish her he did not know, did not care. The threat was disarmed now anyway, and he did not want to hurt her physically.

Had this been any other situation, Sakura would've probably slapped him by now, screaming bloody murder and a handful of obscenities. Yet for some reason, she found herself deepening the kiss by her own initiative.

With a soft moan of pleasure against his lips, she slipped the tip of her tongue inside his mouth, meeting his.

She could've claimed she took this initiative it was because she felt threatened or even guilty, but that didn't make sense as she still felt that feeling of instilled safety. When she later opened her eyes her vision felt slightly blurry. If it wasn't so absurd she would've almost thought she was crying. Then her whole body tensed and she felt weak in her knees, even sitting down. Her head throbbed, and she felt dizzy. Again, it was almost absurd, and while normal people would've just placed it as being _love struck,_ this was far from it.

The kunoichi looked at the blonde quizzically and he regarded her with a laid-back expression, still only a short distance away. It was almost like he was expecting this to happen.

"What... what's happening to me?" she asked weakly.

He embraced her tightly before answering. "It's started to take effect."

"What...? How--- What did you do?" she was already struggling to form coherent sentences.

"Poison." His response came in a whisper to her ear. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan."

Her mind went into overdrive, trying to analyze everything, although the effects of whatever poison she was under didn't exactly help the process in the slightest.

What type of poison was it? She doubted it was anything fatal. One, they were often working very slowly or very fast and, unless he had slipped her something through the kiss - which sounded odd considering she had initiated the first one, that didn't make any sense at all.

That brought her on to the second question - when had he managed to slip it to her? If he would've done it while she was sleeping she probably wouldn't have woken up this early and, why go to the bother of leaving _warm_ breakfast if that was the case.

It hit her like a ton of bricks.

_Of course, the goddamn breakfast._ Had she had any strength left to do so, Sakura would've surely rolled her eyes.

It all made sense. The green tea. The stupid note. And, of course, the enhanced bread renewing her strength. Probably so she could take the full effect of the poison without any chance of it screwing her up more than intended.

The only question that remained was, why go through the bother?

She used all her remaining strength to pull free from his enveloping hands and regarded him carefully, seeking any hints that could answer the question. His expression was calm, but there was that little hint of mischievousness somewhere that she just couldn't quite place.

When she tried to open her mouth he put a firm finger over her lips.

"Shhh," he began, and as if sensing her question he continued. "I wanted to see if you could trust me again."

Her eyes widened just a bit, but she didn't quite know what to say or do. So instead she just nodded dumbly, mumbled a word closely resembling "Idiot," before unconsciousness claimed her and she fell into his waiting arms.

He gazed at her for a while, and then sighed to herself. Of course there had been a second reason, something that compelled him from poisoning her sleeping figure. Using some sort of skewed up logic, he just couldn't bring himself to poison her himself. Instead, it had been easier to put it inside the tea and let her make up her mind herself.

_But she doesn't need to know that,_ and with that thought he put her sleeping form over his folder before heading inside the cabin. There, he strapped a huge scroll to his back and took care of a few other preparations. Naruto then walked the door, closed it and channelled chakra into a big seal on top of it.

Taking one last glance around the vicinity, making sure that noone was nearby. Satisfied, he set of towards what used to be his home. The village hidden among leaves.

**SerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipity**

"Is it true?" Tsunade's firm voice resounded throughout her office the moment he had entered. There was a hint of eagerness not usually found coming from her vocal-cords and as she spoke, she arose from the seat behind her desk, leaning over her hands that were placed like fists on the giant oak table. He noted that she was very much on edge compared to when he, as the vice-captain, together with the captain of their squad, reported their missions. Although that was understandable; after all - this was far from the usual debriefing.

For one, he was alone.

_She has no doubt__ heard through a rumour already,_ he thought, not even approaching how on earth a rumour could've even spread so soon._ Better get to the point fast._ It was common knowledge that the Godaime Hokage did not like dancing around subjects; especially not when it came to her subordinate's well-being.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." the man, clothed in a simple uniform and a mask resembling that of a bug, spoke in his usual stoic voice. Sense of urgency aside, it would never do to act informal around the village's supreme leader.

"Don't just stand there! What happened!?" the fifth commanded.

He contemplated for just a mere moment. Would she be interested in the status of the mission as well, not just the disappearance of the team's captain? He guessed so. "After making contact with our target and succeeding in the miss-"

The bug-masked man was rudely cut of by his leader's fist impacting on her desk, no doubt leaving a dent.

"Shino! I don't care about that! Get to the point, damnit!"

Noting the lack of use of his codename - something supposed to be used in situations like this at all time without exception, he wondered briefly what bothered his Hokage more. The news of her pink-haired protégé or perhaps a certain blonde missing-nin? He intelligently chose not to voice this question.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. We turned in to an inn for the night. Taichou claimed we had deserved it after the success of the mission. After we checked in, Taichou remained downstairs and... then disappeared, Hokage-sama."

The bug-user regarded the Godaime before continuing. She still looked somewhat furious, but there were undertones there of... anxiety and perhaps anticipation? Interest? Her features had softened, at least.

"We tracked her chakra-signature into the forest, but she had been travelling at a much faster pace than us, obviously chasing someone. When we found her, she..." he trailed of here. Perhaps not the wisest move but a quick glance at the dent in the table somewhat held him back.

"Yes?" Tsunade glared.

"She was unconscious, Hokage-sama. In the hands of Uzumaki Naruto, missing-nin, ranked S-class. He then disappeared, bringing Taichou with him."

There was silence as Konoha's leader promptly sat down on her chair again, looking straight forward at nothing in particular.

"I see..." she began but quickly trailed of. "Was she hurt?"

"Nothing fatal, Hokage-sama. One big but patched-up wound in her stomach, and a few smaller wounds on several limbs. Also the possibility of weak chakra-exhaustion and minor to medium blood-loss."

"Oh." the fifth mumbled numbly, still staring of into nowhere.

Lacking experience on this type of awkward social situation, Shino felt the sudden urge to soothe his leader but did not know exactly how to voice it. "She'll be alright, I'm sure of it." he began, but then wavered a bit. Upon seeing that he had her full attention, however, he continued. "Sakura-taichou is a fighter," He offered, watching her expression gradually change. First into one of surprise, undoubtedly because of his words, and then a faint outline of a smile on her young face. He then added a "Hokage-sama." at the end, not one to forget the formalities that accompanied his duties.

There was a moment of silence in Tsunade's office, before she finally spoke up with a question. "Tell me, what do you think his intention was?"

"I don't know, Hokage-sama." the Aburame stated. The Hokage merely frowned at how fast he was back at his usual, stoic, self.

"Let me rephrase that. Based on your memories of Naruto as a genin, compared to what you saw yesterday... would you say he was a threat?"

"Uzumaki Naruto is an S-classed missing-nin, Hokage-sama. And he disabled a high jounin-levelled opponent and captured her." Tsunade was almost about to groan at his stoic and typical answer. "But, my instinct tells me he did not harbour any ill feelings towards Taichou, Hokage-sama."

She breathed out a sigh of relief. "What was his reaction when he faced the rest of you?"

"He did not engage us in combat." Shino began. He knew there was a second part of the question, however. "… and he did not seem to recognize me."

"Very well. I expect a written report on the subject along with the other details on the mission. Thank you for your time, ANBU-san." she dismissed him.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Shino bowed and moved towards the door.

"Oh, and Shino-san." Tsunade called out before he opened the door. Using his real name now but referring to him as a subordinate when he was dismissed, he recognized that what she was about to say was under the protocol. "Please consider mentioning your personal instinct in the report. It'd make it a lot more... easier, to avoid a public outcry."

"Anything else?"

"Has he... changed much?" she finally asked.

"Quite. Good bye, Hokage-sama." he opened the door and walked into the hallway, leaving his village's leader alone.

"This is gonna be one of those days." she said aloud after he was gone, to no one in particular. "I can already feel the migraine coming."

**SerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipity**

A shadowed figure made its way through the forests in the dark, below the ever-watching moon. He enjoyed the moon, and spent countless of sleepless nights watching it. This was a habit he had probably taken up thanks to one of his few close friends, a man he would consider his own brother in every way but blood.

He threw the half-moon a glance, still hopping like an expert between branches. A couple of distances in front of him laid a huge village, one hidden among leaves.

The man sighed contently. He didn't particularly look forward to visiting his birthplace but, it had to be done. He would've had to stop running at some point, that much was clear.

He spared a look down to the woman snoring lightly on his shoulder. He had been surprised to notice her being quite the heavy sleeper, snoring and sometimes even snorting mid-sleep, as he had tended to her wounds the day before.

The man shook his blonde hair, obviously amused. He had assumed she was sleeping so heavily due to the extent of her injuries but apparently there was more to it. _Oh well_, he thought. _It's kind of cute, anyway._

Focusing on the task ahead, the walls guarding Konoha that got bigger and bigger with every leap he made. The birthplace of the woman neatly tucked on his right shoulder. He realized then that he didn't know where she lived anymore, and let loose a bunch of swearwords.

_What__the hell do I do now?_ He contemplated leaving her on top of the Hokage-monument, perhaps on the fifth's bosom, but figured neither one of them would appreciate the sentiment.

_There has to be a way to __get a hold of her address_, the blonde figured. And there was, at least one place that he could think of. He knew that the Hokage's tower had files on every active ninja's personal records. He had, after all, once upon a time so different and long ago that it almost felt like another dimension, been mindset on taking over the office after Tsunade. For that reason, over the span of a few months, he had devoted his free-time that wasn't spent on training to make sure he knew everything there was to know about the job.

The shadowed figure gritted his teeth at his own memories and old naivety. He usually didn't think back to that time any more, but these last two days... Suffice to say, the pink-haired woman hooked over his shoulder brought more out of him than he wanted to admit.

With a giant leap he scaled the walls. He'd have to start being more careful now, seeing as there were usually patrols, ANBU and chuunin's, all over the place at night. Without a sound he landed on the other side, on top of a tiled roof. Quickly he jumped down into an alleyway where he placed the unconscious woman.

Moments later the black-clad blonde could be seen leaving the alleyway alone, sneaking off towards the large tower placed directly in front of the mountain-side monument that watched over the village.

Scaling the huge tower slowly, step by step, using chakra to keep his footing to the wall, he peered into window after window until finally finding one close enough. The figure silently opened it using a stealth-technique mastered years ago and snuck in.

He did a few handseals and crouched next to a door leading out into the main hallway of this floor. If he remembered correctly, there would be four guards, all members of the Hokage's personal elite ANBU. Two of them would stand guard outside the Hokage's office to the left, while the other two would guard the entrance to the right, guarding the room he needed to reach.

The jutsu he had just completed confirmed it.

The blonde removed four senbons from a pouch on his left leg. He had, in fact, stolen them from his ex-teammate a few minutes earlier but figured she wouldn't mind. Or at the very least, it wouldn't be as high on the list as several other things he had done to her. He usually didn't work with needles, since while they were precise, they didn't inflict as much pain and damage as a kunai or shuriken.

For knocking someone out or just disabling them however, they were irreplaceable.

In a split second he appeared on the other side of the door and flung his metal objects in different directions. Four collective thuds were heard following impact as the guards all fell to the ground, eyes wide behind their masks and still conscious, but unable to move or speak, a senbon sticking out of their neck.

He bowed slightly in both directions, as a magician would do in front of a crowd, and then stepped to the right. He carefully moved his legs over the fallen figures on the ground in exaggerated movements as if to mock them. The feint chirping of a whistling tune could be heard from the blonde as he made his way through the door that was his goal.

**SerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipity**

The fifth Hokage groaned awake in her office. She had been sleeping, if the trail of saliva running down her shin down onto the neatly stacked paperwork that she used as a make-shift pillow was any indication of it.

And it was commonly known that Tsunade, Godaime Hokage and Legendary Slug Sannin, did not appreciate getting woken up in the middle of the night. She wondered slightly what, or who, had awakened her in the first place. _It better be something important, I was having such a beautiful dream..._

Her eyes narrowed slightly. At first she had assumed someone had woken her up on purpose but there was not a single soul in her office.

_No doubt one of those idiots__ guarding the door made some noise. Wait, is that someone... whistling I hear?_

She shook her head. Maybe it was just her imagination after all. None of the guards she had would be that unprofessional. But then the noise came again, and she was now sure that she was not just imagining things. Indeed, someone was chirping some melodramatic tune down the hall.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously again as she huffed in annoyance and rose up from behind her desk, taking a second to remove the wet trail on her cheek before moving out the door.

In the dark of the corridor, the only thing that kept her from tumbling over the limp bodies outside her office was her extra-ordinary ninja senses and split-second reaction time.

Out of instinct she knelt down besides one of the figures and put two of her fingers on his neck, searching for a pulse. Breathing out a sigh of relief when she found one, she plucked out the needle but not before placing one finger in front of the mouth on his mask, indicating that he should stay quiet no matter what.

The chirping could still be heard down the hall, slightly muffled by the door. She followed it with her gaze, noticing that the rest of her supposed guards were in the same state as the soldier in front of her.

She recognized some sort of substance on the needle, and immediately started removing the poison, whatever it was, from the ANBU's nerve-system.

It was a fairly potent poison she concluded, but its intention wasn't lethal. Its design was only to disable the opponent by disrupting the nervous system until removed. For it to act this quickly, it had to be injected with a lot of accuracy.

She briefly listed the people she knew of that could mix together such a poison but there were only two, perhaps three names on that list. At least now with Sasori of the Sand and his grandmother, Chiyo, dead.

"How many?" she whispered.

"One male, Tsunade-sama." he answered, still feeling the effects of whatever had disabled him but being able to speak now that the offending object was removed.

The Hokage swore silently. For one man to take out four guards this effortlessly and barely not making a sound in the process, he had to be real good. Perhaps even better versed in the art of stealth as one Hatake Kakashi.

_But who on earth would give__ it away by whistling afterwards? Is he dumb or just plain arrogant?_

She focused her attention on the ANBU again, as it seemed he had something more to share.

"Yondaime-...sama." he wavered, obviously taking a lot of effort to speak.

Tsunade's eyes widened to dangerous levels and her head snapped to the right again, towards the room that housed the offender.

Without another word she made her way down the hall, not bothering to release the other guards from the poison. They would no doubt only get in the way. The closer she came the louder the tunes of his whistling could be heard.

With not so much as a warning, she smashed down the door into several pieces with one killer swing, and the whistling died in surprise.

"Huh?" a voice, belonging to a man no doubt, could be heard inside the room.

As the smoke caused from the remaining pieces of what was once a four-inch thick door, a blonde-haired man looked back at her with surprise in his eyes. He was standing next to file cabinet and held a file in his hand that he had apparently been reading when she came barging in.

However, at the sight of him, Tsunade was dumbstruck. No doubt this man looked a great deal like Yondaime. Same hair, the same eyes and almost-identical face. If it wasn't for the two sets of three horizontal birth-marks lining both of his cheeks, she would've been sure she was staring her predecessor down right now.

"Na... ruto?" she spoke in a calm voice and took a few seconds to regard him. He had no doubt changed a great deal from the last time they met.

The blonde man, in turn, only smiled widely back and nodded. "Been a long time, eh, old hag?"

She took a few seconds more to take the sight of him in, before remembering herself. Tsunade glanced quickly to the file in his hands and the words that read on top of it; "Haruno Sakura."

In an instant the fifth grew furious again, remembering the events that had taken place earlier. Her pink-haired protégé, the guards in her office, the numerous hunter-nin that had come back on the brink of death.

"NARUTO!" she ushered again, this time as a battle-cry as she charged forward, fist first.

The blonde's expression didn't change in the slightest, however, still that dumb smile adorning his face. Even as the woman's fist connected with his jaw, it never wavered.

Instead, he just disappeared in a puff of smoke in the aftermath of the fatal punch. Leaving the Hokage momentarily taken aback before she realized that he, _no - his clone!_, had gotten what it had come for and had now successfully delivered the data back to its master.

Crouched in an alleyway, ten blocks from the office, a blonde man grew a mischievous smile as his clones experiences merged with his own.

_The old hag is still the sam__e after all_, and with that thought in mind he picked up the unconscious form of his ex-teammate and darted off towards her home.

**SerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipity**

Ten minutes later, the pink-haired woman was carefully tucked inside the gentle confinement of her own queen-sized bed, still snoring lightly. The blonde wondered if she had found someone to share it with during all these years, but quickly recognized that that type of thinking would do no good.

She was out of his grasp now, and had probably always been. He had chosen this path himself and she certainly didn't owe anything to him. Not after he had abandoned her like he had.

He sighed, brushing a pink lock behind her ear and then bent down to place a kiss on her forehead. Although she was still sleeping, she still whimpered ever so slightly, as he pulled back.

Uzumaki Naruto moved towards the window from which he had entered, but before doing so spared a look around the flat.

It was not heavily decorated, but still homey. Some few pieces of modern art mixed with more traditional paintings. One, in particular, drew his attention.

It was a picture of him, together with Kakashi and Sasuke, Standing in front of a huge, pink, blooming Sakura-tree. It had obviously been modelled after the picture their teacher, Kakashi, had taken after they passed the bell-test. That same picture rested on her bed-stand, and for some reason he was absolutely sure that Sai had painted it.

He shrugged at the old memories that lingered and opened the window. "I'll be seeing you, Sakura-chan. I can feel it. But I can't help but think that it'd be best if you just forgot about me." And with that he abruptly left through the window, out into the night.

The cold morning air swept through the apartment for just a moment before the window was closed, and a young kunoichi stirred from her deep slumber. A sense of dread welled up inside of her as she watched the cloaked figure jump away from outside her window. For some reason, her heart was torn in two, and numerous emotions passed through her. She was infuriated at her old teammate and disappointed in her self. In that instant she felt so much towards him; hate, anger but above it all she missed him dearly.

That made her remember the two kisses they had shared, and another feeling - this one strangely pleasant, took over. Then she thought about what she had heard him say right before he left her. She hadn't made out most of it, only parts here and there. Something about that she should forget about him. She grew furious, again.

_Who the hell does he think he is, saying__ something like that!?_ she all but screamed, without even opening her mouth. She hadn't realized just how worn out she was. She sighed tiredly before sleep claimed her again.

Haruno Sakura spent the rest of the night and well into the following day dreaming about small and furry blonde foxes.

**SerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipity**

After having tucked the sleeping body of Sakura in, Naruto could be found standing on top of the Hokage monument, gazing over the village he had once left. The moon was still out, but for the most part covered by clouds. He paid it no mind right now, however.

Instead he looked over his shoulder and called out behind him. "You can come out now."

Nothing happened for several seconds, until finally there was a slight shift in the air and a female form landed gracefully a few steps behind him.

"It's rude sneaking up on people like that, don't you think, Tsunade-baa-chan." he smiled warily as he glanced back towards the village instead.

"Naruto..." was all she said before she pulled herself together. "So you noticed?"

"Mhm."

"Since when?" she asked, if nothing else then to determine his skill. _It is my duty, after all._

"Half-way out the village. Plus I had already guessed you'd figure out what I was doing with Sakura's records. It's why I turned around and went up here."

"Oh." She responded numbly. She wanted nothing else then to envelop the man in front of her in a hug, before beating him to a bloody pulp for leaving in the first place. But she was well aware of that her duties as a Hokage came above everything else.

"Tell me, what are you doing here?" Her voice was firmer now, with a sense of authority over it.

"My, my, Tsunade-_sama_." He mocked, a mischievous glint to his eyes as he turned around to face her. The blonde folded his hands over his chest defiantly as he continued, but there were obvious hints of playfulness in his voice. "You can't really order me around anymore, now can you?"

She sighed, but decided to play along. Tsunade recognized what he was doing; he was not going to let her speak to him as the Godaime Hokage but instead as Tsunade, the woman that had all but adopted him as a smaller brother.

She silently thanked him for it.

"Fine." She almost spat out in that same firm voice, before taking a deep breath and changing her posture entirely. "How have you been, Naruto-kun?"

He contemplated for just a moment how much of these past years he could share, and what she may end up doing with the information he may or may not give her.

"I've been... okay. For the most part. How about yourself? Still going strong, I see. I would've guessed you would've chosen the sixth by now." He spoke with calm that she hadn't expected, at least not during the latter part. "Aren't you supposed to go senile soon anyway, old hag?" he continued, that same mischievous glint shining in his blue eyes.

"Nostalgic are we, brat?" she countered, and the blonde man in turn only smiled slightly. "If I would've known just what a pain in the ass it would be to pass on the torch, I likely would've never let a certain obnoxious _runt_ talk me into taking the job in the first place." She huffed before continuing, narrowing her eyes while speaking. "Or, for that matter, let him run away."

There was a brief silence, but seeing as he didn't have anything to say, she continued. "What happened, Naruto-kun?"

He sighed. It had been obvious that that question was going to come out sooner or later, but that didn't make it any less annoying. "I guess I grew up."

"Bullshit!" she claimed, and he noticed that the term was used very much with the same expression as Tsunade's pink-haired protégé two nights prior. "That boy would never run away like that! No, the Uzumaki Naruto I knew and loved would've faced it head-first and came out on top! You didn't grow up, if anything it was the opposite."

The start of tears had begun forming in her eyes during her speech, and she was looking back at him with mixed emotions. Rage, confusion, anxiety and fear? The two last ones he didn't really know why she felt, but if he would've attempted a guess he would've believed it was at missing her little brother.

"Be that as it may," he finally spoke. "I read somewhere that part of maturing is choosing your own battles. I realized that this wasn't one I wanted or even needed to fight in the first place."

Tsunade slumped her shoulders in defeat. No matter how much he had changed, he was obviously still irrational and stubborn as hell.

"So you're telling me you're happy out there, on your own?"

"Who said I was on my own?" he threw her a smile before continuing. "And yeah, I'd say I'm pretty much happy. I feel free. Content. That's far better than I felt here, in the end." he sighed slightly. "Look Tsunade, I won't claim that I'm happy to be rid of you or that I don't miss you - because I do."

The fifth nodded only, the beginning of tears finally rushing down her face at his words.

The first tell-tale signs of the birth of day could be sighted across the horizon behind Naruto, a few rays of light peaking ever so slowly upwards, towards them.

"At any rate, old hag, I better get going. It wouldn't do any good for anyone to find the Hokage talked friendly with S-Class criminal of my calibre, now would it?" The blonde huffed the last part in obvious sarcasm, but then smiled genuinely as he continued, taking a step back while doing so. "It was nice catching up to you, Tsunade-hime. Too bad we can't do it more often. I'll see you." He promised, and with that he leapt backwards, somersaulting in the air and then plunging downwards the monument.

He reeled in the feeling of the free-fall, spreading his arms out like wings and let himself enjoy the moment as he forgot his troubles for just a second. Letting the morning gusts clear his brain. As soon as it started, however, he had to end it lest he should hug the earth, face-first.

Turning his body around mid-air, he formed a familiar handseal and two clones appeared on his sides. With all their might, they threw the original by his feet to the side and slightly upwards, before hitting the ground and turning into wisps of cloud.

_That was a fun distraction, just what I needed_, Naruto thought as he shot away from a rooftop, using the momentum of the clones throw to attain a very high speed as he blurred through the village. _Some stress-relief would be nice right about now_, he figured. A mischievous grin hugged his facial features. He knew just the place.

And with that same grin plastered to his face, Naruto shot over the gates and headed south-west through the forests.

**SerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipitySerendipity**

Tsunade groaned for the umpteenth time that very morning as she stole a glance at the clock. 10 am. It was still too early to be awake in her modest opinion. Especially on a day such as this.

First of all, she hadn't been able to get any sleep after being awakened rather abruptly last night. By a whistling missing-nin, no less.

The migraine from yesterday had yet to disappear.

And it didn't really help that every so often, someone would burst into the door demanding to know whether the rumours regarding the 'Kyuubi-vessel' were true or not.

Most of them had no idea what had transpired anyway. There had been theories and beliefs that Naruto had slaughtered whole squads of ANBU's while civilians had heard the Kyuubi were coming to extract revenge upon all them all.

She merely sighed. So much for avoiding public outcries.

A poof of smoke announced another sudden visitor. Tsunade merely rolled her eyes. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Is it true?" the man's normally lazy and withdrawn voice was instead today very eager and right to the point.

She merely grunted in response. "What are you doing here, Kakashi?"

He took a second to calm himself before answering the question. "I'm requesting a transfer to the hunter corps., Hokage-sama."

Tsunade merely looked up at him in surprise, trying to discern from the few visible parts of his face if he was serious or not. And indeed he was, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to voice her concerns on the idea. "You can't be serious, Kakashi."

His visibly eye narrowed slightly. He had been hoping he wouldn't be questioned, but alas that was not to be. "I am very serious."

Tsunade leaned back into her chair. "And why? What exactly are you hoping to gain from this?"

He sighed slightly, and there were clear signs of pain and weakness in his voice and posture as he continued. "It's something I should've done long time ago. I can't help but feel guilty for all that's happened to... those two."

"And if I should consider your request, what would happen when you come across him? Do you think you're even strong enough to take him out?" It was a legitimate question but the famed copy-nin, not needing his sharingan to read others, easily noticed the underlying motives. It was no secret that she cared deeply for the blonde, even now.

"I... Listen, Tsunade-sama. I have no reason to go after him _other_ than to bring him back. Back here to Konoha, where he belongs. And with or without your clearance, that's what I'm intending to do." There was a sense of authority, finality even, in the latter parts of his words. Perhaps not something one would expect from a subordinate talking to his superior, but the words of his old friend and teammate rang in his head.

_While it is true that people that abandon their mission is trash, people that __abandon their friends are worse than trash!_ And indeed, he couldn't help but feel he had abandoned Naruto a long time ago. It was a long time overdue that he made up for it to the best of his abilities.

If nothing else, he owed it to his own teacher.

Tsunade waited a few moments before she chose to answer his request, closing her eyes and massaging her temples. "Fine. I'm expecting the paper-work required for such a transfer to be done by tomorrow."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Kakashi bowed.

"Don't thank me just yet," A foreboding smirk grew on her features. "You're not going alone." He was about to interject but she persistently continued. "I'm handpicking the rest of your team."

"Absolutely not!"

And in turn Tsunade's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Excuse me?"

"I'm going alone. He's my responsibility. I was his sensei after all, Hokage-sama."

"Hatake-_kun_, do you really think that you're in a position to demand anything here?!" The fifth growled.

The copy-cat ninja merely sighed, shaking his head slowly and calming his breathing before continuing. "I've got to do this alone. If you don't trust me, then that's fine - send someone to trail after me that won't interfere."

"We don't know anything of his capabilities, and even less about his intentions! You know how high his potential was when he left, and now... who knows? For all we know he could be a new Itachi!" She hated herself for saying it, but as the Hokage she_had_ to remain objective and wary of any potential threat.

"You know that's not true, Godaime-sama. Especially not if it's true, about Minato-sensei..." he trailed of.

The Hokage could only roll her eyes. There were, as far as she knew, only two people left alive that knew for sure right now, unless the runt had figured it out on his own. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of confirming it, however. Besides, if he did manage to track Naruto down, he'd find out on his own.

"You're taking Tenzou with you, at the very least."

"But-!"

"This is not up for discussion, lest you want me to strip you of your rank and place you under Iruka as a teacher at the academy!" She shot him a defiant glare, telling her not to take her threat lightly. "Am I making myself _clear_, Kakashi-_kun_?"

Kakashi's one visible eyebrow shot up. _She wouldn't! ... would she?_ There was only so much he could do to keep himself from gulping nervously. Decades of 'controlling his cool' came into practice but Kakashi still shuddered slightly.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Perfectly." He sighed. Besides, he couldn't disagree that Tenzou's abilities would prove most... worthwhile, on such a mission.

"Good." She smiled, happy on having won their little dispute. "I assume there's nothing else, Kakashi. Dismissed."

He had poofed out of her office before she had even finished the first part of the last sentence sentence. Tsunade only shook her head slightly.

_Now, where was I?_She yawned. _Ah, that reminds me. Paperwork._

The Hokage was snoring on her desk not even five minutes later.

**Silly**** Author's Musings**

-shrugs- Good? Bad? Thoughts?

I'd love some feedback since, well, I'm pretty much clueless.

First off; Thanks to the dear, humble, Norwegian little child going by the name of **FenrisLupus** (around here, at least - in the real world, I hope not) for telling me how and why I suck and how to fix this to the best of my abilities. No, before you start spamming him, he's not a flamer; just someone I've used (a lot) to vent ideas upon. Cheers buddy.

Okay then, I realize I'm probably gonna get some criticism on how OOC Naruto is. I'm going to try to clear that out later on, along with his reasons for leaving. It's just, very complicated and I'm trying to do this whole missing-nin thing as un-cliché as possible. Seeing however, as this idea is very cliché to begin with, meh. Time will tell how well I handle it.

I did leave some traces to his old personality however, which I enjoy immensely. I hope everyone agrees on that, so I at least didn't butcher the poor blonde completely!

Don't ask me why I picked up this series or, for that matter, fandom at all, again. I think it had something to do with closure and also, lurking somewhere in the back of my mind, was the fact that I haven't written in three long years.

So where does this take us? I honestly dunno. I do know that I've got some plans for this fic. I've always had, but they seem clearer now than they did 3 years ago.

I know many of you have whined, moaned, begged and last (but not least!) _kindly asked_ for updates on Behind a Mask. Sorry but, there's probably not going to be any. I do _hope_ to finish this story - but I won't make any stupid promises to do so. I know better than that. _Cough, cough_. Okay, I do know better than that _now_, at least.

Very well, then! Until next time. I'll try not to be several years, this time around.


End file.
